JC: Yeah, I played his guitar with the hole in it! I was too lazy to go get my (guitar). “Willie, can I just play your guitar?” Because the musicians were just coming in while we were finishing. And so I played his guitar. I just did a very simple little finger-picking type of thing through it, and later Willie took his own guitar and came back and put his solo on it and overdubbed that. But that’s the way it came about. The next morning I got a call and they said, “Merle’s left town. And we finished that album, the ‘Poncho and Lefty’ album. Now Willie wants to start an album on himself and he wants to do your song first. Can you come over and write it out and teach it to him? And we want to do it.” So, I said, “Sure!” And I did. I wish that I had that piece of paper that I wrote it out on. ![]() JC: Well, we were cutting the “Pancho and Lefty” album with Willie and Merle Haggard and Willie in Austin out at Willie’s place. And we were just about to finish the album that last night and I got the idea, you know they could do “Always On My Mind,” the two of them together. And I said, “I’m gonna play it for ‘em.” And I asked Willie, “I’ve got a song and it’s been a while since Elvis had it - can I play it for you?”Īnd he said, “Sure,” and I stood there right in Willie’s studio and played it on my guitar and sang it - “Always On My Mind.” And he heard it and his wife at the time, Connie, heard it and the other people - the other guys, the producer Chips Moman knew it. So at the end of a little while later they said, “Johnny, can you put that down on tape for us? Willie and Connie want to take that back with them tonight and listen to it." And I did. MJ: I got a call, I was living in New York and I was writing for Screen Gems. Red West was handling some of the publishing for Elvis at the time. He said, “Elvis is looking for songs, you got any songs for him?” I said, “Yeah, I got a great song for you.” And we sent it to him and he loved it. I mean we even got a video with Elvis. Of course Johnny was responsible for everything with Willie Nelson. MJ: That day, that night when I was fixing to go into the studio to record it (that) this is the best song I can ever be involved with. I will say, we all added something special to the song. The song could have never happened without all three of us.īH: How did Elvis get it, and how did Willie get it? MJ: It hit me downstairs as far as … (in the studio). JC: No, but I thought it was good. But as the different artists did it, Elvis first, then so on afterwards, it started to take on a personality and an aura that was very special as the years went on - with the different artists and time maybe. The song's two other writers, Johnny Christopher and Mark James, reflected on its creation and legacy in a conversation with Bart Herbison of Nashville Songwriters Association International.īart Herbison: I think after all these years we don’t have to be humble. Is it the greatest song ever written, Johnny?īH: I’m saying it may be. The idea for the classic song “Always On My Mind” came from a telephone conversation the late Wayne Carson was having with his wife. She was unhappy with him being gone so much pursuing his music career. He was heard to say, “But honey, you were always on my mind."
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